


Desert Nights

by autumntea



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Greaser Ace, M/M, More characters to be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-11
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2018-02-04 07:44:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1771195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumntea/pseuds/autumntea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whenever Ace goes out on his motorcycle late at night, he always encounters something unusual. But the most unusual and definitely the most special was the teen in a straw hat who worked the night shift at an old, broken down gas station that Ace can't seem to get out of his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Flickering Neon

**Author's Note:**

> So for the past year, I've been thinking of writing an AU with Ace dressed in greaser clothing... and this was the product. I'm really excited to start writing this story!
> 
> This is gonna be a multichaptered fic and the rating is eventually going to go up! No warnings I can think of for this chapter!
> 
> Many thanks to lumbardy and savthekid on tumblr for helping me with ideas and proofreading respectively :')

Wind whips through Ace's face as he drives down the highway, his motorcycle purring underneath him. It's a warm night, warm enough that Ace doesn't have to wear his jacket, but he chooses to anyways.

Streetlights and scenery rush past him as he rides, looking for any gas station that came along the way. He needs to refill his tank and he needs to get another pack of cigarettes and maybe a snack.

The twenty-one year old often went out driving around the small Californian desert town to clear his head until either the sun came up or he was too tired to continue.

It was pretty nice and relaxing, but he wasn't the only one out at this time by a long shot. Oddly enough, however, the others driving around him did nothing to deplete his mood.

He drives for a few more minutes until two neon signs stand out in the night sky and quickly catch Ace's attention. As he gets closer, its easy to see that they're both gas stations that are directly across from each other and very different from one another on first glance.

The gas station on the left side of the street is grossly crowded with cars even lining up at the side of the road. On the right side is a gas station that is completely devoid of any life even if it looks open for business.

Ace notices that the gas station on the right looks run down. The flashing neon sign and even some of the lights at the older looking gas stalls flicker on and off. The entire place looks incredibly old and, even if the lights are somewhat on, a part of him wonders if there's anybody actually working there.

Ace was a pretty reasonable guy and, to him, there was nothing reasonable about waiting in ridiculously long lines for gas when there was another completely empty gas station just across the damn street. (Whether or not the place had someone working in it was a completely different story however.)

He turns right and pulls into a stall that's labeled 'j'. Two of the stalls are numbered like you usually see at gas stations, but the others are labeled with random letters, like z and q. One stall is labeled with a symbol that looks oddly similar to the symbol Prince had used instead of his name for a while.

The lights inside of the small building are on and Ace can see a slumped over figure through a dirty window. The twenty-old year old hops off of his bike and takes a moment to check out his hair in the chrome plating of his bike when he has the chance.

It might be silly to some, but the state of his hair was very important to Portgas D. Ace.

Luckily, the wind hadn't messed up his slicked back hair very much at all while he had been driving. The sides of his hair are shaved in an undercut, so he doesn't have to worry about it for now.

He adjusts his leather jacket on his shoulders and sticks his hands into the pockets of his denim jeans. For the past few years now, he dressed like he was something straight out of a movie about rebellious 50's youth. It was a style he was comfortable with and it was definitely eye-catching.

When he enters the small building the place smells old, reminding Ace of certain thrift shops or the old abandoned houses he had been curious to explore with his brother when they were younger. It's damaged, too, the ceiling stained from leaks, a few tiles missing from the floor, and a poorly fixed hole in one of the back walls. Honestly, Ace can understand why the place doesn't have a lot of customers; a lot of people didn't really like coming to places like this. Ace didn't necessarily care, as long as he got gas and didn't have to wait in a ridiculously long line.

The place, ratty as it may be, did have a nice assortment of snacks, however, which was great in Ace's book.

There was one other person in the gas station besides himself, an employee who was sleeping with his sandal-clad feet on the counter next to a small TV playing something that sounds like wrestling.

Ace grabs a few snacks on the way to the counter and stares at the employee who was lounging and definitely sleeping.

The sleeping employee has messy black hair, tan skin, and a scar under his left eye. His face is round and his nose is slightly up-turned. Chocolate is smeared over one of his cheeks and his mouth hangs open as he sleeps peacefully. Now that he's closer, Ace can hear light snores. He wears a black shirt that was obviously part of the uniform, but there's no name tag on his chest.

To be honest, he has a pretty cute face.

Ace reaches over and pokes the sleeping person until they mumble sleepily, their face twitching and mouth closing as they squirm in their stool. He continues to poke the employee until eyes twitch open and a yawn escapes from his pink lips.

The guy blinks up at Ace hazily, still half asleep. Even if his eyes are only half open and drooping like they'll close again at any point, Ace thinks that this guy even cuter than he was when he was asleep. He looks like he can't be any older than sixteen or seventeen.

Ace expects the guy to jump up from his laid back position, but he slowly swings his feet off of the counter as loud cheering from the tiny TV resounds around the place. His eyes open a little bit more, enough for Ace to tell they're blue and for him to see that the gas station worker is looking directly at his leather jacket.

"Hey man," The probable teen says in a high-pitched and sleepy sounding voice that fits his image. "That's a really a really cool jacket!"

The worker smiles large enough for his gums to peek past his lips. Something in that smile makes Ace pause for a second. The wide, sleepy smile was one of the most stunning smiles that the leather jacket wearing college student had ever seen and when it was combined with sleepy blue eyes it made the dark haired gas station worker look absolutely adorable. Ace honestly couldn't remember when he had seen another person so cute. It actually left him reeling.

"…Thanks," Ace says, shifting from foot to foot as his reply came out sounding a lot more awkward than he had planned.

"Are you like… an actual customer? Cause I haven't had anyone come in here all night! Well, I dunno if anyone came in while I was sleeping. Probably not!"

The teen seems to wake up more and more with word he speaks and it's clear that he's excited at the fact someone else is at the gas station besides him.

"Yeah, I'm a customer. Nothing's gonna make me wait in that line," He points at the gas station across the street. The line seemed to get even longer in the few minutes since he had pulled into the gas station with the flickering neon sign.

"Awesome! I don't think I had any customers yesterday, either! But that happens a loooot. I don't really get it. Is the gas special or something? Do you think it like changes the cars into like… Robots or something? Cause if I had a car, I would totally go there if it meant I could have a Transformer or something!"

Ace can't stop himself from grinning a bit as he listens to the worker go on and on. It's pretty amusing to hear and the teen grows increasingly more animated as he speaks. The worker bounces in his tall stool, an excited smile gracing his face, as the fact that he had been sleep seems to be completely foreign to the young worker. Ace just kept finding the worker even cuter with each word. It was a little bizarre if Ace was going to be completely honest.

"Oh yeah! So you needed something, right?" Wide blue eyes bore into Ace's expectantly.

"Yeah." He takes his wallet out and pulls out three tens. "Twenty on stall j, a pack of menthols, and the snacks."

"Okay!" the employee says, punching something into an old machine and plucking the money out of the twenty-one year old's fingers. He tosses Ace a pack of his favorite cigarettes that he takes out from behind the counter.

"Is it always this empty?" Ace asks even if he already knows the answer, catching the cigarettes with ease.

"Yeah! It gets really, really boring and I still gotta be here for another two hours!" The teenaged employee pouts, but his face brightens all of the sudden. "Oh! But there are a lot of snacks here and the owner doesn't care if I eat them, so it's not that bad!"

Ace chuckles, watching as the employee stuffs Ace's snacks in a plastic bag. "You get to watch TV, too."

"Yeah! But there's not a lot of channels! Just wrestling and kids shows; I don't really get why?"

"That's... A really odd combination." Ace replies slowly, one of his eyebrows rising.

"That's what I said! Shishishi!" The employee laughs uniquely, dimples forming in his round cheeks. He gives whatever change Ace had left – just a few spare cents that Ace doesn't really need – and the plastic bag of snacks.

"Have a great night! Nice bike, by the way!" The worker waves at Ace as the freckled male starts to turn around.

"Seeya later." Ace smiles at the younger male tentatively, missing the way the other's cheeks are flushed a light pink.

He fills up his tank quickly, wanting to get back on the road. He starts up his motorcycle and turns his head slowly to catch one last look at the worker. The worker is looking out of the dirty window with a bored expression on his face now that he has no one to talk to. He leans heavily on the palm of his hand. However, he catches Ace looking back and the bored look vanishes, replaced by an even larger smile that radiates warmth and is even more stunning than before. Ace's heart jumps up to his throat. He stops leaning on his hand and waves at Ace so excitedly that the freckled man can't help but wave back.

As he drives away from the gas station, the flickering neon sign in his rear view mirror and the messed up gas station quickly disappearing into the night the further he drives, Ace is positive that the worker is unusually cute and that he's definitely going to come back to the run down gas station in the future.


	2. Purple Horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very excited about posting this chapter! Ace is a giant nerd.
> 
> Proofread by savthekid!

Smooth, cool smoke fills Ace's lungs. The twenty year old rests his calves on the arm of the couch, too tall to lie comfortably on the tiny couch. He looks to the side to see his brother on the love seat, blond hair pulled into a small ponytail and attention fully on the book in his lap.

The TV plays a movie that neither he nor his brother are paying attention to. Ace is bored, but the movie doesn't manage to catch his interest. It's a drama of some sort, which over-exaggerated crying confirms, but Ace has never really been one for drama in the first place.

He stretches his arms into the air and yawns, catching his brother's attention.

"What?" Sabo asks, looking up from his book. His left eye has a scar over it and his light blue eyes look just as bored as Ace feels.

"It's boring just sitting here. Weren't you like… going to see Koala today?" Koala was Sabo's close friend who was a year older than both of them. Sabo had met her in his sophomore year of high school and they had been friends ever since. Ace, however, understands that both Sabo and Koala have major crushes on each other, but still haven't done anything about it.

Ace didn't really get it, to be honest. It was obvious to everyone that Sabo and Koala both like each other, to the point where some people actually thought they were already dating.

"Supposed to, but she had to work on the article she's writing for Dragon." Sabo replies in boredom, flipping a page. It was clear that he was disappointed, but he understands that it couldn't be helped. Especially when it evolved Dragon, Koala's boss and Sabo's possible employer. Ace had never met the man, but what he's heard over the past year or so he knew that the man wasn't someone to mess with.

Ace hums, staring up at the ceiling. He holds his cigarette in between his fingers, letting it burn on, the smoke fills the air and ashes fall on the floor. He doesn't honestly care about the ashes, even if it'll make Sabo look at him disapprovingly whenever he notices it. It's not as if they can't be swept up.

Today, in general, was boring as hell and it made Ace want to do nothing but sleep, but he'd already taken a nap after his classes ended that day and he wasn't about to nap again.

So instead the twenty-one year old swings his feet off of the arm of the couch and sits up, the old small couch creaking dangerously. Ace pulls out the comb that he keeps with him at all times out of pocket and combs back his hair, well aware that his brother's eyes were on him the moment the couch shifted.

"Goin' for a drive?" Sabo questions, flipping a page as Ace reaches under the couch for a boot that he stuffs his foot into.

"Yep, you need anything?" He laces up his boot quickly, searching for the other when something bounces off his head. "What the hell, Sabo?"

"It's $20. Go nuts; buy me snacks." Sabo replies, returning to his book as Ace grumbles and stuffs the crumpled twenty in his pocket.

He finds his other boot and shoves it on, tying it and standing up with a lazy goodbye to Sabo, grabbing his leather jacket on his way out.

Exiting their two-room apartment, Ace passes a few of their neighbors who greet him before going down to the car lot.

His bike is as beautiful as ever and is something that everyone and anyone could admire. It purrs to life sweetly underneath him, as if greeting him.

Ace takes his sunglasses out of his pocket and places them on the bridge on his nose as he lets the bike warm up. He gives his bike some gas and he's driving out of the lot before he knows it.

The clear, purple and pink sky and palm trees greet him as he drives down the street, the sun beginning to set on the purple horizon.

He smiles widely as the refreshing breeze fans across his face, making him feel more awake than before. Ace merges into the small area between the cars and speeds up, just managing to make the light before it turns red.

He passes one gas station and then a second, knowing from the start that he wasn't going to go to any of the ones in the city, even if it was much more convenient.

Ace wanted to drive, wanted to get out of the city that made him feel a little trapped at times. Luckily, there was plenty of space outside of the city for him to just drive.

Not only that, there was the lonely gas station with the cute worker on the outskirts where the city ended and the more deserted areas began.

Ace would be lying if he said that his mind hadn't wandered to the cute worker a few times over the past few days. The teen had interested him and he was awfully cute, if he was being honest with himself. It was a shame that Ace hadn't gotten his name, but if the worker was at the gas station today, he would ask him.

It was just… odd that such a young looking guy would be working all alone in a nearly abandoned gas station on the edge of town.

Maybe, Ace thinks when he makes a left turn, he doesn't have anything else.

If that's the case, maybe it's something they both have in common.

* * *

The sky is slowly getting darker and when he drives down the road, the city lights getting further and further behind him.

Ace is careful as he weaves through other cars coming back from their other obligations. One of the drivers sticks their head of the window, with an odd clown mask of all things in their face and screamed at Ace. Luckily, Ace didn't swerve into other cars.

California is a very strange place and one never knows what to expect with all of the bizarre people. (Not that Ace himself was necessarily normal.)

There had been one time where an extremely tall man with very long legs and a large, feathered pink coat had run up besides his bike out of nowhere and scared the living shit out of Ace.

That situation had made Ace accidentally crash into a cactus; something he would rather not think about because the repairs for his bike were expensive and there were thorns in unpleasant places for weeks. Not to mention his hair had gotten messed up.

The guy who made him crash didn't stop to see if he was okay, of course, but had continued running as if he were facing a life or death situation.

Ace shakes his head, clearing it from any and all thoughts that had to deal with weird flamingo men outrunning motorcyclists.

After a few more minutes he sees the two neon signs in the sky. The one on the right side flickers lazily, just the same as the other day.

As he gets closer to the gas stations, he can see the gas station on the left is just as crowded as it was the other night and that the one on the right is just as deserted.

He drives up to the gas station on the right and parks at stall 'q'. Through the dirty window, he can see the worker from the other night, a tattered straw hat on his and a sleepy expression on his face.

Ace can feel a smile tug at his lips but he isn't entirely sure why.

He hops off his bike and checks his hair quickly before walking up to the run down building slowly.

When he tries to open the door, it's a little stiff and requires him putting his weight on it to open it open. It swings open and nearly causes him to fall flat on his face, but luckily he manages to catch himself when he stumbles forward. (He was glad he didn't fall because falling in front of cute people wasn't the coolest thing that you could do.)

"Whoa! You nearly fell! You okay?" The cute worker greets, making Ace quickly turn on the heel of his boot. When he notices Ace, his face brightens up and he leans forward in his stool, an excited look on his face. "Hey! You're the guy with cool bike from the other night! I didn't think you'd come back! What's up?"

Ace can't help but smile widely at the excitable worker. The smile the younger looking man wore was contagious and Ace thinks it would probably very hard to not smile back at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just... was in the area and thought I'd stop by here. The other place is way too crowded… And they probably don't have snacks like you have."

The worker puts his hand on his chin, closes his eyes, and nods in agreement, like he's in deep thought. "That's true, they don't have a lot of snacks. That place is really weird though!"

"This place is pretty weird too, though. I mean I'd rather come here than go there, but still. There's a great assortment of snacks that looks like it's restocked regularly, but the place is pretty run down."

When Ace finishes talking the worker grins and chuckles, making the twenty-one year old arch an eyebrow in question.

"Shishishi! I think it's pretty weird too! But my boss Hammock doesn't really care about the place a lot even if she owns it! I don't think she wants it really, but she hired me and stocks the place with a lot of yummy snacks! She's pretty cool!"

"She sounds pretty cool." Ace says, grabbing a handful of snacks he knows his brother likes and for himself.

"Yep! She's pretty weird though!"

"Does she work during the day?"

"Huh? Oh nah, she's pretty busy cause she has a bunch of other stuff to do! I think it's closed during the day or something.

Ace pauses and looks at Luffy, who sits at the counter without a problem in the world. "That's… really odd."

Wide eyes blink, but they shine with a gleam that implies they have never thought about it before. "Is it? I never thought about it before."

Ace has to close his eyes for a second, shaking his head and fighting a grin. This worker was incredible.

"Hey!" The worker chirps after Ace's eyes open and he walks to the counter with an armful of snacks. "I didn't ask you your name last time! What is it?"

"Aren't you supposed to introduce yourself first?" Ace teases, amused by this whole situation. He dumps the snacks on the counter, happy at the turn of events. The old fuzzy TV is on, playing old wrestling like it had been the other day.

"Oh, I guess! I'm Luffy! I'm gonna be King of the World! It's nice to meet you!" Luffy introduces, a wide smile on his lips and a hand extended towards Ace. The twenty-one year old didn't really know what Luffy meant about being King of the World, but he had assumed after their last meeting that the smaller male was eccentric.

"Luffy… The pleasure's all mine." Ace says, taking Luffy's smaller hand in his own. It's a bit colder than his own and calloused, but it fits nicely. "I'm Ace, not really looking to being King of the World."

Luffy smiles brightly and shakes Ace's hand enthusiastically. "Good! I'm glad because I'm not gonna let anyone else be King!"

"Well you don't gotta worry."

Luffy laughs gleefully, still holding onto Ace's hand even after he's stopped shaking it. Oddly enough, Ace doesn't let go either until he realizes that they're holding hands.

Even if he lets go, Luffy doesn't seem to realize and continues to hold Ace's hand happily, swaying in his spot with wrestlers screaming in the background. Ace swallows the lump that forms in his throat and tries to think of something to say, feeling an awkward bubble in his stomach. It wasn't bad, just bizarre, even if Luffy was cute and his hand felt nice in Ace's.

Luckily he doesn't have to because Luffy slips his hand out of Ace's soon, a bright smile on his lips.

He starts ringing Ace up, but looks at Ace the entire time. "So! Do you live in the city or do you like… live outside of it? I heard there are a lot of lizards and really cool bugs out there!"

"Nah, I'm from the city. Going to the university out here." Ace replies, stuff his empty hands in his pockets. "What about you?"

"Ohh, okay!" Luffy says, reaching the end of the snacks. "I live in the city too! Just moved here a few months back with my grandpa, but I like it! But why are you out here though? Aren't there like a bunch of gas stations in the city?"

Ace shrugs, pulling out his wallet after asking for a pack of menthols. "Yeah there are, but I go out on drives sometimes on my bike when I'm bored and I don't have anything to do. I didn't need gas when I was in the city."

He knows that he isn't completely telling the truth, but it's not all a lie.

"Oh? You need gas too?" Luffy asks, looking up at Ace. The freckled man wonders how tall the other male is, not being able to tell due to the younger looking male sitting on a stool.

"Yep, on stall q." Ace hands over the money to Luffy, who plucks it out of his fingers with the excitement of a five year old being given their first dollar.

Luffy punches something in to an older monitor and turns to the cash register for Ace's change, but by they the time he turns back around, there's a different expression on his face.

He hands Ace the change, their hands touching once more. Again, Luffy doesn't bother to pull his hand away from Ace's, catching the college students attention.

"Hey… Do you maybe wanna stay a while? It gets really boring and pretty lonely just waiting here. And you said that you didn't really have anything to do, right?" Luffy asks, his eyes shining with hope and his cheeks flushed just a bit with what might be nervousness but Ace isn't sure. Even if he hasn't known him for long, Ace can tell Luffy isn't the type to get nervous.

Ace blinks and rubs his neck with his free hand, eyes flashing out the dirty window to his bike and thoughts to his brother. But it doesn't take him much time at all to make a decision once those earnest blue eyes bore into his. Ace jumps up on the counter next to the snacks and takes a seat.

"Yeah, why not." Ace says and Luffy blinks, an overjoyed expression on his face with each word.

Luffy's smile is so wide that Ace thinks he's going to pull a muscle in his cheeks with how wide and happy it is. Ace can't help but smile back, feeling a bit lighter than before.

The commercials end and another round begins, but the smile on Ace's cheeks doesn't fade as they fall into easy conversation and cheer on their chosen wrestler on the fuzzy TV.

Sabo could definitely wait for snacks.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3! Sorry this took me so long, but I'm really glad that I managed to finally finish it! Proofread once again by my friend Sav!

"Y'know.. You remind me of one of those guys from Grease or like, James Dean or something!" Luffy says after swallowing a mouthful of popcorn.

Ace blinks, the edges of his lips curving slightly as he turns his head toward Luffy. "You wouldn't believe how often I get that."

The two of them crowd around the old, fuzzy TV. An old WWE fight plays, a nice change from the matches that felt like paid programming, but it was a match that Ace felt like he had seen before. A fan revolves in the center of the gas station, blowing the rather warm summer air their way.

Ace sits on the old counter, a little afraid that his weight was going to break the old wood and he'd end up falling on his ass painfully in front of the incredibly cute gas station worker. Luffy sits on his stool, a happy expression on his face as he finishes off his popcorn. Ace has to stop himself from stealing glances at Luffy every now and then, but it's surprisingly difficult. Something about the young-looking worker was incredibly attractive; it was like he was a strong magnet and Ace was just naturally being drawn to him.

"Really? Does it get annoying?" Luffy asks earnestly, all of his attention on Ace. "How long have you been dressing like this? It's really cool!"

"It can if I'm in a hurry or something, y'know? People really like stopping me to tell me I look cool when I'm busy. But I get to meet some cool people cause of it. Some assholes too, of course. I've been doing it since senior year? I think I was 17?"

"Whoa really? How old are you now?"

"Twenty-one, what about you?"

"Just turned eighteen last month!" Luffy chirps, leaning heavily on his palms. Ace can hear a couple of thumps coming from the counter, suggesting that Luffy was probably swinging his legs from on top of his stool and kicking it every now and then. "That's pretty long though! Still really cool! How'd ya get into it?"

Ace hums looking up at the ceiling, rolling his cold soda can in between his palms. Like the rest of the gas station, it looks like it'll collapse any second. There's a burnt out light directly above his head and it looks like it's detached from the water stained ceiling, dangling by thin wires. Ace scoots to the side slightly for an ounce of reassurance before speaking.

"Well... My mom always used to watch movies like that and loved the culture a lot... So, my brother and I kind of grew up with this kind of stuff. I just didn't realize how cool it was." The look in Ace's eyes is dull and he's staring at nothing in particular, as if he's somewhere else far away and not in a rundown gas station on a warm summer night in California.

Luffy notices the brief change in Ace, but the faraway look vanishes when Luffy chuckles and swings his legs in the air like a pendulum.

"Shishishi, that's pretty cool! I watched Grease when I was a kid, but that's pretty much it! Gramps never really watched any of that stuff with me. He made me watch a looot of weird war movies? Oh! Animated ones too because grandpa likes em a lot too!"

"Your grandpa sounds like something else." Ace says, the aluminum can in his hands making a light crunching sound when he flexes his fingers so they don't fall asleep.

"Yeah, he really is." Luffy agrees, a serious expression on his face before he changes the subject. "So, you said that you met assholes because of it? How?"

Ace scratches the back of his head **;** there's a contemplative look on his face.

"Well, people like stopping me on the street, y'know? Lot of them tell me I look cool or whatever, but there have been a few that have told me I'm trying to **o**  hard or whatever? Say that I'm just dressing 'rebellious' to fit in and that I'm a poser or some shit? A couple of them have told me that I'm a Grease wannabe. I dunno, they're all full of shit. I didn't even know people still talked like that... I'm pretty sure they're talking just to hear themselves speak at this point. Not worth my time, y'know?"

Luffy nods, entrapped in Ace's words like he's never heard anything so interesting. To be honest, Ace likes it. No one has ever been glued to his words to this extent before. It made something smug and warm that he couldn't really explain ignite pleasantly inside of Ace.

"So, you're saying that you like 'Grease' regardless?" Luffy questions, his eyebrows slightly raised and his mouth puckering a bit mockingly after he asks.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. What can I say," Ace chuckles, finishing off his soda. "I'm a 'Rebel Without a Cause.'"

Luffy bursts into his unique laughter, throwing his head back and smiling so wide his gums show.

Ace decides, settling into a more comfortable position and grinning back brightly at Luffy, that he can definitely get used to this.

The freckled twenty-one year old sits on the counter, his left leg kicking at the air.

The TV plays wrestling, public access this time, but Ace can't really say that he's incredibly interested in the program that's rather difficult to see due to the mainly static fuzz that the TV shows.

He's much more interested in talking to Luffy, who is currently snoring softly with his cheek resting on the palm of his hand. They had been in the middle of a conversation, when the teenager suddenly fell asleep, like he fell under a spell. It reminds Ace of his narcolepsy.

If that's the case, then Ace can understand how it is so he lets Luffy sleep.

That was his plan at least, until he hears a thump and a cry of pain cuts through the sound of the wrestling and the revolving fan. Ace stops kicking at the air and turns his head over to look at Luffy who is now sitting up and rubbing at his forehead with a pout on his lips.

"Ow…" Luffy whines, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You okay?" Ace asks, turning his body even more.

"No!" Luffy says childishly, shaking his head and sucking his lips in.

Ace chuckles and reaches over his fingers brushing over the red mark on Luffy's forehead where it'd fallen on the counter. "Well, it doesn't look like it's a bump, but would you like something cold?"

Luffy hums, his ears turning red. Ace has the sudden urge to kiss Luffy on the forehead instead and see if it'll make the teen feel any better.

Luffy opens his mouth and is about to speak but a heavy bass cuts him off, coming from Ace's pocket.

Ace takes his phone out of his pants pocket and sighs when he sees that it's Sabo.

' _He can wait,'_  Ace thinks, ending the call and turning back to Luffy who looks up at him with curiosity shining in his eyes.  _'I have better things to do right now.'_

He is however a little surprised at the time that flashes on the screen.

"It's nearly 12." Ace says, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "My brother was probably calling me and asking me why I'm not back yet… or something."

"Eh?" Luffy says hopping off his stool and walks out from behind the counter, letting Ace see how tall he was for the first time since their meeting. "Really? That didn't feel like four hours."

Ace can't really believe how short the eighteen year old is. He barely reaches Ace's shoulder and has to look up in order to meet Ace's eye. Luffy's not thin, but lean with muscle. Luffy raises his arms in the air, having to stretch after sitting in the stool for who knows how long. His shirt rises with his arms, a patch of tan skin and the waistband of colorful boxers being exposed to the eyes.

Ace can't help but stare at the exposed stomach for a second or two before he feels creepy and has to divert his eyes to the ceiling. He can feel his cheeks heating up and is admittedly a bit ashamed. The twenty-old year old can only hope that the cute gas station worker hadn't seen his stare. He keeps his eyes fixed on the stained, broken down ceiling until a poke to his chest snaps him out of it.

"What are you doing?" Luffy questions curiously, big dark blue eyes boring into Ace's own when the twenty one year old quickly looks back down at Luffy.

"Ah… Don't worry about it…" Ace responds, scratching at a freckle. "When does your shift end?"

"Uh…" Luffy stares up at the ceiling, rocking on his heels like he can't stand still. "I think I have thirty minutes left?"

"Do you got a way home?" Ace asks, pulling the cigarette he had placed behind his ear and putting it in between his lips.

"Eh? Oh yeah, I do! My friend Torao is picking me up because all of my friends got other stuff to do! Well, him or Bonney… Maybe both of them but probably not Kid! He doesn't know how to drive and his face turned even redder than his hair when I asked him why! He has reaaaally red hair! I don't get why he got mad though! But he always gets pretty mad for some reason… He's pretty funny!"

For some reason Ace doesn't doubt that Luffy's friend had probably gotten angry due to some teasing on Luffy's part.

"Hey, why? Were you offering me a ride?" Luffy asks, his dark blue eyes boring into Ace's with innocent curiosity.

Ace blinks and forces himself to look away from that strong gaze. "Yeah, I mean can't let you walk home alone when it's this late."

It's Luffy's turn to blink, but instead of looking away he smiles brightly. Before Ace knows it, surprisingly long arms wrap around his waist and Luffy's face is buried in his chest. Ace freezes, not expecting this response at all and not knowing how to respond in favor.

Luffy tilts his head, smiling up at Ace like a kid in a candy store. Happiness radiates off of him in excess, like it's something

"Thanks Ace!" Luffy chirps, little dimples forming in his cheeks. "That's really, really cool of you!"

The freckled man face heats up and he hopes that his cheeks aren't red, but he doubts hoping will do him any good because of how hot his face feels. Luffy pulls back and jumps on the counter, still smiling and kicking his legs up in the air like he won the lottery.

"Hey, you would take me on your bike right? That's so cool! I've never been on a motorcycle before! Is it fun? I bet it's a lot of fun! Eh… Ace why is your face all red?"

"No reason." Ace says clearing his throat but still feeling the heat in his cheeks. "Bikes are really cool. You can go pretty fast and the wind feels great. It's less constricting than a car, y'know?"

Luffy groans, exaggeratingly throwing his head back. "That sounds so cool! I wanna ride one really bad!"

Ace finds himself replying before he can stop himself. "Y'know, maybe sometime I can take you on a ride or something. I mean, if you want to."

Luffy's head snaps up and his eyes are practically glowing brighter than the stars in the sky. "Really?! You'd take me on it?! That's so cool!"

Ace can't help but smile, idly wondering how one person could be so charming and make Ace's stomach feel so fluttery.

"Yeah, I could take you on a ride whenever you want." Ace says, looking down at Luffy.

"Awesome! I'm really looking forward to it!" Luffy cheers, swaying on the balls of his feet.

Ace grins and ruffles Luffy's hair. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah!" Luffy chirps, laughing a bit and swatting Ace's hand away playfully.

"I…should probably go now though. My brother probably called to see where I was, he's like my keeper or something." He also had class tomorrow, but he didn't necessarily care about that.

"Aww," Luffy starts with a pout. "It was really fun hanging out with you! We should hang out again soon!"

"Yeah, we should for sure." Ace responds with a toothy grin. He was already looking forward to seeing the terribly cute smaller teen again and thought it was a shame that he had to leave already.

"Cool! I'll see you later Ace! Have a great night!" Luffy says, reaching out and giving Ace another hug.

Ace flushes lightly and pats the affectionate teens back, saying goodbye when long arms unwrap themselves from his torso.

"Hey!" Luffy says when Ace is nearly at the door. Ace turns his head and sees Luffy smiling lazily at him, his own phone in between his fingers. "Do you wanna exchange numbers?"

Ace pauses for a moment, but his lips slowly twitch into a small smile. The freckled twenty year old turns on his heel and walks back to Luffy, taking his phone out of his pocket. Luffy grins bright enough to illuminate the entire night sky.

The exchange is quick, Ace punching in his number swiftly before handing it back to Luffy. but it's enough to make him smile like he's just won the lottery. Their hands brush together when Luffy gives Ace his phone back and his hands are surprisingly cold, unlike Ace's, but Ace had heard before that people with warmer hearts had colder hands.

He and Luffy say goodbye again and Ace feels a bit silly and repetitive as he waves to Luffy for one last time after he starts his bike up. It's not necessarily a bad feeling he thinks, as Luffy's happy smile and enthusiastic waving is fresh on his mind even after the flashing neon sign is no long in site and his only company is his bike and the wind whipping at his face.

Happiness, affection, and a touch of restlessness swim in the pit of his stomach the whole way home, bubbling like a warm hearty potion. The only thing he's sure of at the moment is that he can't wait to still Luffy again.

Ace walks into his apartment like it's a dream, not even sure when of how he got there. It's probably dangerous, but he couldn't really care at the moment. It was kind of dumb and silly, yes, but he still couldn't help the absolute elation that seemed to hypnotize time. Silly, because it was only a number and he had gotten dozens and dozens of numbers from people since he had hit puberty but there was just something different that Ace couldn't place.

Or maybe he did know and just didn't want to admit it to himself yet.

He doesn't remember that he forgot to buy Sabo snacks just as his head hits the pillow and sleep takes over him.


	4. Hazy Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! So, I finally got this chapter out! Took me longer than I expected... Hopefully next time it'll take less time...? I'm going to go finish Psycho Pass and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ALT story/chapter name: Ace's Bizarre Adventure
> 
> Thanks for Sav for proofreading as always! 
> 
> Warning: Language

Ace's eyes fly open when his body crashes on top of the floor, and the blankets go down with him in a heap. They do not cushion the fall, instead his face hits directly into the black carpet. It smells bad, a mixture of dust and lingering cigarette smoke.

"What the fuck?!" he exclaims, struggling with the blanket he's quickly getting tangled in with one arm. Ace tries to push himself up with his knees to no avail because just as he starts, a heavy weight lands on his back, knocking him down on the floor. The weight keeps him down, pushing him further into the floor.

A hand tightly pins his arm to the floor, an elbow digging into his side.

"Where the fuck are my snacks?" his attacker and brother says, every word dripping with seriousness.

"Sabo?! What the hell?!" Ace says trying to kick his brother off, his face still muffled by the carpet. Jesus Christ, how could it smell so bad? As soon as Sabo gets off of him, he's going to vacuum or something. Sabo moves one of his arms, not giving Ace much time at all before it's pinned under the blond's weight. His hand reaches over and firmly grabs Ace's scalp, wavy black hair tickling his palm. That, however, causes Ace to scream, "Not the hair! I swear to God, Sabo! If you fuck up my hair I'll end you!"

A reasonable guy he was, unless his hair, bike, and people he cared about came into the mix. Unfortunately, these things didn't always stray in his favor.

Sabo, the bastard, doesn't get off of Ace. He only repeats himself. "Where are the snacks you were supposed to get me?"

Ace recognizes the false calm in his brother's voice and wonders why he has to deal with this.

"I forgot them! Now get off me!" Ace says, trying to pull his arms away from Sabo's grip and lift his upper body. Surprisingly enough, he's successful to an extent. He frees his arms, Sabo's arms going limp. Ace pushes himself up, quickly pulling his legs back and knocking his brother off of his back.

Sabo falls to the floor, not even bothering to break the fall. His arms are spread eagle, his blond hair sticking out against the dark carpet. There is a certain disappointed and sad look on Sabo's face that Ace has never seen. This was already becoming one of the most bizarre mornings and it was just beginning. (There was still a wide amount of bizarre mornings that topped this, of course. A good number of them had been when Ace and Sabo's mother had been around. Never would Ace forget the rubber chicken-super glue incident.)

"Ace... my snacks. I was looking forward to them." Sabo whispers a minute later. He sounds honestly sad and Ace really doesn't know if it's sincere or not.

"I…I'm sorry? I got distracted, I completely forgot until I laid down last night." Ace says, running his hand through his hair. He thinks back to the night previous, his stomach fluttering when he thinks of his not-so-brief detour at the rundown gas station and the too cute employee working at it.

He's about to speak and try to explain himself a little better if possible, when he's interrupted. Ace's phone vibrates once, twice in quick succession, something about it just screaming urgency.

Both brothers turn their heads in synch to the phone on the nightstand for a short fragment of time until Ace stands up, quickly snatching his phone and Sabo's eyes follow his figure across the room.

No one ever texted Ace this early in the morning, unless it was for something important.

Before he unlocks the phone, he hopes that maybe it's a text from the cute gas station worker, Luffy. The teen seemed like a morning person, maybe he just didn't have a social filter that told him that you usually didn't text people you just met at 7:25 in the morning, but really if it was him, Ace wouldn't mind at all. There was nothing like getting a message from a cute person to bring a little extra sunshine to your day.

Ace freezes for a moment. Had he just really hoped for a text from the teen he had literally just met? Someone that was admittedly really fucking cute, but still. The freckled twenty-two year old is a little bothered but, well, he decides to run with it. After all, Luffy  _was_ cute and it might not even be from him in the first place. He unlocks his phone, brown eyes roaming over the text with just a small sliver of expectation reflecting in them.

Ace never does get what he was expecting, whether it be texts from cute boys or the chance to vacuum the terrible smelling carpet.

"It's from Marco." He says, looking up at Sabo for a moment before turning around. On his tan, muscular, lean back is a large tattoo that takes up the vast majority of his back. It's purple and very similar to a pirates skull and cross, but the menacing looking skull has a large mustache. It's a very familiar design to both men and to anyone in their line of business. "I'm being called in. Said it's sorta urgent, but you don't gotta come in."

"I'll get your assignments for you." Sabo says calmly, his eyes shut. This was nothing new by now.

Ace pulls his head through a black tanktop, a dissatisfied look on his face. "I was hoping you weren't going to say that."

"And I wanted snacks. We don't always get what we want."

The freckled man pulls on his leather jacket and stuffs his feet into the closest pair of available shoes - sneakers, much easier for movement than his boots were if he was going to be doing what he guessed. He makes his way to the bathroom to take care of his hair as quickly as possible. "Fuck you."

Sabo just makes a low, satisfied sound, standing up and making his way out of Ace's room.

A bizarre morning, indeed.

A loud groan leaves Luffy's lips as he blindly searches for his phone, his hands patting everywhere on his bed until he can successfully find it. His ringtone was louder than he could ever remember it ever being before; nearly drowned out the sound of his air conditioner that kept his room chilly.

Luffy never really paid much attention to where he threw his phone before bed. The only thing that mattered was that it was somewhere remotely close - close enough to wake him up at least.

When his hand hits something vibrating, he hits the jackpot, pulling the still ringing phone from his sheets and blindly answering it - or at least he hopes so.

He puts the phone to his ear, yawns, and sleepily asks, "Hello?"

"Luffy it's nearly 2 in the afternoon why are you still sleeping?" Nami's voice rings true, his nineteen-year-old friend sounding a bit disbelieving.

"Mm, hi Nami!" he chirps into his phone. "Got back late cause Kid 'nd Torao wanted to drink and me 'nd Bon wanted pizza..."

"Did you drink? You sound hungover to me."

"Kid gave me a sip of somethin' but Torao didn't want me drinking anything else... Said he didn't wanna drag my drunk carcass or somethin'. I'm tired... Wanna sleep..." He mumbles, his voice slowly turning into a childish whine. "Nami, lemme sleep."

"No, Luffy. You better wake up. I'm calling you out of the goodness of my own heart, you should be grateful!" In the background he can hear Usopp yell  _'Don't listen to her Luffy! It's a trap!'_  followed by a series of loud crashes, but he still doesn't open his eyes. "Don't listen to him, Luffy! Did you forget your grandpa's coming back into town today? I'm trying to  _save_  you."

A blue eye slowly cracks open. Luffy's room is dark, the curtains being dark enough to keep the bright afternoon sun from filtering in through his window. He can see the shape of his desk that he never really used except for throwing random stuff he didn't know where to put.

The teen yawns again before clicking his tongue. "Are you guys at a restaurant?"

Nami sighs clear, as if she was expecting this question all along. "Yes, Luffy. We're at the Baratie. But not for long! Hurry up and meet us here!"

The college student hangs up and Luffy kicks his sheets off, throwing his phone back onto his bed. Luffy yawns again, scrubbing a hand over his eyes to rub the sleep out of them as he rolls out of bed. The teen shuffles to his closet, flipping the switch to turn on the light on the way.

The room is rather dirty, with clothes strewn about, but it's spacious. There's a desk near the closet, a red laptop, misc. papers, and a fish bowl on it. A red and blue beta fish swims up to the glass as Luffy walks by, expecting food. Luffy giggles and feeds his fish quickly before going to his closet, quickly stripping out of his pajamas with a fire to his movements, like it'll hurt him if they're on any longer.

He pulls on a loose black and white t-shirt that's a bit too big for him. It slides off his shoulder a little, but he doesn't really care. Luffy pulls on a pair of shorts next, slipping on a pair of sandals before quickly walking over to grab his straw hat and phone.

The teen was still tired but food was worth it… and so was escaping his grandpa, especially seeing that the old man had sent him a voicemail sometime when he had been sleeping, telling Luffy that he was going to be home sometime around 3.

It was a really good thing that Nami called him when she did.

Last night had been really fun though. He loved hanging out with Law, Kid, and Bonney and the pizza was totally a bonus. And, even work had been fun! The motorcycle guy had stopped by again!

Luffy likes Ace. The older man was funny and pretty easy to get along with! And, he didn't seem to mind when Luffy suddenly fell asleep, which was pretty awesome! Luffy hopes that the older, freckled man will come back again when Luffy has his next shift.

Luffy perks up and takes his phone out of his pocket, quickly going into his contacts and looking for Ace. He sends the older man a quick text before tucking the phone back into his pocket and taking the rest of the stairs two at a time, wondering what he'll do the rest of the day after he eats with Nami and Usopp.

"Maybe I can stop by Zoro's and nap?" Luffy asks himself aloud as reaches the end of the stairs. His best friend loved taking naps just as much as the Brazilian teen did and never really seemed to mind it when Luffy showed up even if it was for a nap. He would probably spend the night there if it meant getting away from Gramps for a night, but the old man did know where Zoro and all his other friends lived.

Luffy closes the door behind him, tilting the brim of his straw hat and looks up at the sky.

The air is heavy with humidity; the sky is cloudy, with just a few patches of blue peeking out. It's kind of hazy, but it's a nice day.

He grins and starts walking down the street, ready to start the day.


	5. Desolate Encounters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hhhhey it didn't take me too long this time! holla
> 
> This chapter was fun to write and stuff happens! Best combo imo

Luffy sits at the table, a joyful expression on his face as he happily sips at his milkshake. He kicks his sandaled feet under the table idly, unaware that he's incurring the wrath of the woman sitting across from him until the duly pointed tip of a boot meets his shin.

"OW! What was that for Nami?!" Luffy basically yells, getting more than a few glances from the other people in the restaurant.. None of them care, of course. They're all more than used to the stares by now and honestly didn't really register them anymore. Luffy brings his shin closer, rubbing the place where Nami's boot had connected.

"Did you even notice that you were kicking me, Luffy?! You're lucky I'm not increasing your debt for the dent you left in my shin!" Nami exclaims, pointing at the straw hat wearing teen. She's a pretty woman - ginger hair falling in waves down just past her shoulders and an almost unnoticeable splattering of freckles on her cheeks. The shirt she wears exposes her arms, showing off a proud pinwill tattoo and a rather fresh scar just below it. "You were kicking me this entire time!"

"Eh?" Luffy asks, tilting his head to the side. "Are you sure?"

"Oh God," Usopp whispers from besides Luffy, a dark hand covering his eyes. His nose is exceptionally long and his hair is all thick, tight curls that are bunched together in a hair tie at the base of his neck. His arms are uncovered as well, unmarred but in the awkward transition of growing muscle. "You're digging your own grave, as usual."

"Do you want to see what you were doing to my shin, Luffy?" Nami says a bit sinisterly. "Because I can show you."

Luffy shakes his head, pursing his lips together. Nami sounded scary. "No, but I'm sorry Nami! I'll stop!"

"Good. You better or I'm tripling your debt." Nami replies simply, tucking a ginger strand of hair behind her ear as she turns back to her own drink.

Luffy looks at Usopp, a little fear on his face. Usopp reaches over and puts his hand on the Brazilian teen's shoulder, his face showing understanding. He would say something too, but he didn't want to risk having Nami's anger turned on him.

The redhaired woman was too good at keeping the guys in their group in check. (She was a blessing, some would say. Their group all agreed, but that was because she's Nami and not because she's great putting the more rowdy members of their group in their place.)

"We're going shopping after this, by the way." Nami states, not looking at either boy.

"What? No! Nami, shopping is boring!" Luffy whines with a pout.

"I told you it was a trap!" Usopp groans before jumping in his seat with a high-pitched squeak. Nami was looking straight at him, her brown eyes giving off no emotion, which made it even scarier.

"Don't you two give me that! You two owe me! If it wasn't for me and Torao, you guys wouldn't have passed your finals! Do you know how many times I had to cancel plans with Nojiko and Vivi?"

"Torao doesn't make us go shopping with him for like five hours!" Luffy complains, resting his face on the cold table.

"I...We, appreciate it all Nami, but Luffy does have a point." Usopp interjects hesitantly.

Nami sends the darker skinned teen a sharp, scolding look. Usopp cowers a bit in his seat.

"Would you rather hold my bags or become Torao's science experiment?"

Usopp pales. The latter option did not sound pleasant at all and, really, he wouldn't actually put it past Law to do something like that. He even had a silent theory that some of the scars on Luffy's torso were due to Law dissecting him whenever the younger teen crashed at the tattooed doctor-to-be's house.

"O-on second thought, shopping isn't really that bad." Usopp concedes.

"I'm glad you reconsidered."

"Namiiiii," Luffy whines. "I don't wanna go shopping! It's so boring and you never go into any fun stores!"

"Well, there's a new 50s style diner that's opened up across town, near the library. Franky and Robin were telling me about it. Apparently Franky helped design it. He wanted it to be a surprise, I guess."

Luffy looks up, staring at Nami. He looks a bit excited at the mention of a new food joint, but another thought passes through his head and he starts bouncing in his seat. "Wow really? That's awesome! I'll go shopping with you if we can go there! Hey, did I tell you guys, I met this one guy who dresses like he's from the 50s!"

Nami smiles like a cat who's caught a canary. She sits back in her seat, pleased. "No, you never told us Luffy. What do you mean?"

"Like, James Dean or Danny Zuko! A greaser, I think? He's soooo cool! I wonder if he knows about that diner?"

Usopp's head pops up. "Zuko?"

"I'm pretty sure John Travolta wasn't searching for his honor in 'Grease', shithead." A smooth, familiar voice cuts in. A spare chair at their usual table is pulled out, a lean well dressed body sitting in the empty seat. The man who joined their table is blond, and tall, with a curly eyebrow and the other covered by hair. The moment his eyes land on Nami, warmth filled his blue eyes. "Ah! Nami-swan~! You're gracing my break with your glorious presence! I'm the luckiest person on the entire earth!"

Nami inclines her head towards Sanji, eyes closed and much more focused on her drink. Sanji seems delighted by even this meer gesture, if his happy sigh tells the others anything.

"Is his last name really Zuko?" Usopp questions, raising a thin eyebrow.

Luffy looks up from his milkshake, his lips reluctantly leaving the straw. "Haven't you seen 'Grease'?"

"No..."

Luffy looks at his best friend slightly betrayed. "How?!"

"Usopp has shit taste in movies." Sanji suggests, unwrapping a piece of gum and popping it in his mouth.

"Oh! I see." Luffy concurs, turning back to his half finished milkshake. He grabs the cold glass in his hands, giggling a little at the condensation against his palms causing Sanji to roll his eyes.

"OI!" Usopp barks, but it's clear that he's not really angry.

Nami rolls her eyes at the behavior, more than used to this by now. Honestly, this was nothing like how it usually was when all ten people of their group got together. Not to mention when Luffy brought Bonney and Kidd or whenever Perona or literally anyone Luffy so happened to befriend showed up unannounced.

So, it was only natural for the nineteen year old to question Luffy about the next possible weirdo that could be knocking on her door in the near future.

"Luffy, this Danny Zuko, James Dean love child you mentioned. Is he a friend, or a  _friend_?" She emphasizes, but knowing that Luffy might not understand even still.

Luffy brightens up like they've seen him do countless times, blue eyes shining excitedly as he starts kicking his legs underneath the table once before. "I'm not really sure what you mean, Nami! But Ace is a really, really cool guy! I like him a lot and I think you guys would to! But I don't think he's into doing the same stuff we do, y'know? But that doesn't matter! A friend is a friend!"

Nami, Usopp, and Sanji all exchange defeated looks. It was already too late, probably. Everyone Luffy gained an interest in and talked about like that meant they would probably be joining their group of friends one way or another, even if it was in a different way than they were.

Luffy always does get his way, after all.

"Tell Danny Dean, James Zuko, whatever his name is not to knock on my door at 3AM like Perona..." Usopp mutters, just barely loud enough for the table to hear.

Luffy just looks at his friends obliviously before turning back to his milkshake.

* * *

Ace leans his head against the doorframe, watching the scenery go by and letting the wind whip his face. The twenty year old sits in the backseat of Marco's old, beaten up Toyota. Thatch had claimed the front seat, right after both men had denied Ace access of his motorcycle on the job they were going to do now. He's not buckled up, claiming the whole seat as his. He's a little too tall for it even if he's partially sitting up, so his legs are bent at the knee.

"Attracts too much attention, yoi." Marco had said, as if having a near breaking, noisy car and a hairstyle that was too similar to a pineapple for comfort wasn't attention grabbing.

"Why are you pouting?" Thatch asks, cutting through Ace's thought process with a cheesy grin. Hell, the man Pompadour stood out more than Ace's motorcycle too!

"I'm not pouting." Ace mumbles, staring out of the window. The scenery was growing more desolate as they got further from the city. They had even passed the rundown gas station a few minutes ago. Ace knows no one will be there now, if what Luffy had told him was correct. But still, restlessness swims through his veins. He thinks about the cute, small eighteen year old and wonders what he's doing.

Ace hums as they drive by some cactus. He pats his pockets for his phone, planning to shoot the teen a quick text... only to come back empty-handed and phone less.

"Fuck..." He says, leaning his head onto the headrest. "I forgot my phone at home."

"Nice going." Marco says dryly.

"Fuck you too." Ace says playfully. "Yo Thatch, what time is it?"

"Uh, 1:33? Dude, we've got like ten minutes to get to there, stop driving like a granny!"

Today, their job was to meet up with a mysterious man known in the underworld community known as the 'Surgeon of Death.' They needed information and who was a better choice than an underground doctor himself?

They had gone to Surgeon of Death a few times in the past when necessary and the doctor had always given them accurate information, even if the cost wasn't always fair.

He could be extreme at times, but Ace did like him. He was a pretty amusing guy, his seriousness even adding to it, and he has some sick tattoos.

Ace could always appreciate tattoos.

"We're nearly there and I don't drive like a granny, yoi." Marco says, making a sudden turn.

"Yeah you do." Ace and Thatch reply in synch. Thatch lets out a loud laugh and extends his arm over his head for a high five. Ace grins and lazily smacks Thatch's hand before digging into one of the pockets of his jacket for a cigarette.

The rest of the ride isn't silent, with Thatch drumming on the car and humming something unfamiliar under his breath, but it's comfortable enough.

Ace is the last one to get out of the car, Marco and Thatch already starting to walk ahead. Marco is a bit shorter than both Ace and Thatch, his blond hair arranged in an odd hairstyle that's similar to a pineapple. Thatch is taller than Marco, but shorter than Ace and is dressed in his work clothes, as if he hadn't had time to change out of his chef's outfit.

The twenty year old cracks his neck and yawns. He definitely didn't get enough sleep last night and the rude awakening thanks to Sabo this morning wasn't ideal at all. If he hadn't taken his medicine just before leaving the house, there would have been a good chance of his narcolepsy kicking in.

Ace looks up at the building that Marco and Thatch have already entered. It's an old, abandoned bar. They've met here with the underground doctor before.

When he opens the door into the bar, he's hit with warm air.

The bar is dark, the only source of light being from a few holes in the ceiling. In the center of the room is the Surgeon of Death himself.

If there was one person that looked like he needed sleep more than Ace did, it was him.

He's a thin, dark skinned man with dark bags underneath his gray eyes. Black hair peeks out from under a hat that resembles a snow leopard with it's pattern, his pants bearing a similar look. He's taller than Ace by an inch or two, his legs extremely long. The Surgeon of Death scratches at his goatee with tattooed fingers lazily, eyes roaming over Ace without giving away anything.

"Look at what the cat dragged in. It's been a while, Fire Fist-ya." The Surgeon says smoothly.

"I could the say the same. Last time we met, you wanted my liver as a test experiment. Sorry, I'm a little too attached to it to let it go, you know?" Ace shrugs with a smirk.

The other man sighs regretfully. "So selfish, I swear. How are you going to get anywhere with that stinginess?"

"It's all about compromising."

The doctor hums thoughtfully for a moment. "If you say so."

"You talked to Whitebeard, correct?" Marco cuts in calmly. "You know what we're here for?"

The tattooed man pulls out an envelope from his back pocket. "Indeed. He told me what you needed and I'm willing to give it to you, but first… let's talk about payment."

The dark-skinned man smirks deviously and automatically Ace, Marco, and Thatch understand that it's not going to be anything simple or fun for them.

Ace resists the urge to rub his temples.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

A hum cuts through the noise of the revolving fan, followed by a creak of a shifting chair. Luffy sits at the counter, chewing a chocolate bar and his blue eyes skim over a comic.

The eighteen year old is really, really bored and wishes there were more things to do.

After eating at the Baratie, Luffy had gone shopping with Nami and Usopp and it had been funner than he thought it would be. However, the 50s diner had been shut and the moment Nami dropped Luffy off at home, Luffy's grandfather Garp opened the door and dragged the eighteen year old in by his shirt collar, saying that Luffy 'spent too much time with his friends and not with his own Grandpa and that had to change, damnit!'

The door had been slammed before Nami and Usopp could drive off.

Garp had wanted to take Luffy camping or something like that and even Luffy knew what that meant by now. It probably meant Garp deserting Luffy further into the desert with little food or water and expecting him to find his way back home. Or maybe throwing him down the canyon and expecting him to climb back up the side. The man done them before and Luffy wouldn't put it past him to do something similar.

Luffy saved his skin by saying that he had work that night. It was because of Garp that Luffy had gotten the job in the first place - the older man was fine with taking a semester off before college as long as he worked doing it and had even arranged a job for him with Hammock.

Luffy flips a page. He thinks about texting Ace once more, his phone becoming a bit heavier in his pocket. The older man had yet to respond to the text Luffy had sent him earlier, but Luffy was really bored and it would be pretty cool if Ace replied or even showed up.

The little bell attached to the door rings, making Luffy look up from his comic.

Blue eyes blink once before a brilliant smile so bright that it could probably light the sky up better than the stars curves on the teen's face.

Ace stands in the doorway, his hand still clutching the door. The teen can tell he's probably had a you day, if his disheveled appearance is any indicator. A few wavy strands of hair fall from the top of his head, a bit of dirt is on his shirt and jeans too but Luffy doesn't care about that stuff in the first place. Ace looks really tired, like he's going to collapse any moment and sleep the rest of the night away like a baby, but he's still able to send Luffy a tired smile.

"I was hoping you were gonna show up!"


End file.
